🤖 AI Becomes a New Travel Companion. Floods Hit Asia the Most. K-12 Leads Smart Classroom Adoption.

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AI and digital skills used in powering India’s trillion-dollar economy. The hidden workforce powering the green economy, and why skills matter most. Kansas State launches a $1M  program to boost rural STEM and manufacturing careers. NASCAR and BCBSIL Invest in Tomorrow’s Nurses.

The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship launched an AI Assistant, developed alongside Meta and NSDC, which delivers skilling and employment services through Skill India Digital Hub and WhatsApp, promoting digital access. The UK government partnered with Google Cloud to modernize infrastructure and upskill 100K workers, aiming to enhance public services, reduce costs, and strengthen cybersecurity defenses. The UK Government and OpenAI signed a partnership to equip education, security, and justice sectors with AI technology, enhancing services and fostering new AI development within the UK.

Today's Topics

🏫 K12 Education. K-12 sector leads smart classroom adoption
🍃 Green Skills. Asia affected the worst by floods in the past two decades
🤖 Artificial Intelligence. AI becomes modern travelers' new planning companion

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🏫 K-12 Sector Leads Smart Classroom Adoption

K-12 education is leading the adoption of smart classrooms in 2025, outpacing early childhood education (ECE) and higher education. This leadership reflects substantial infrastructure investments and younger students’ digital fluency, which are driving deeper technology integration. It also aligns with the global push toward interactive learning environments, as districts increasingly deploy AI-powered teaching assistants and adaptive learning platforms to personalise instruction. The US Department of Education’s 2024 National Educational Technology Plan prioritises equitable access to smart classroom technologies and emphasises professional development programmes to train educators to manage AI-enhanced learning environments.

🍃 Asia Affected the Worst by Floods in the Past Two Decades

Asia recorded over 90K deaths caused by floods from 2000 to 2024, representing nearly 60% of global flood fatalities and significantly exceeding Africa's 24,500 deaths. The concentration of casualties in Asia reflects the region's dense population in flood-prone areas and increasing extreme weather events. Recent catastrophic flooding in South East Asia and SriLanka due to Cyclone Ditwah, which claimed hundreds of lives in December 2025, has accelerated Asian discussions on climate adaptation infrastructure. Death tolls raise concerns about the fitness of flood management frameworks. Initiatives such as the ADB’s Integrated Flood Risk Management have been proposed for appropriate precautions to prevent further damage from floods.

🤖 AI Becomes Modern Travelers' New Planning Companion

AI adoption in travel planning increased between 2024 and 2025, with extensive usage increasing from 13% to 30% of respondents, while 25% now use AI occasionally, signaling strong latent demand. This doubling reflects growing consumer comfort with AI-powered travel tools amid the technology's mainstream breakthrough. The shift parallels the tourism industry's broader digital transformation, as platforms increasingly integrate generative AI and agentic AI for itinerary creation and personalised recommendations. This mirrors Google's 2024 launch of AI-powered travel planning features in Search, bringing generative itinerary tools directly to mainstream consumers.

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